THE WARRIORS will hit the road tonight to take on a 5-0 Stoneham team at 6 p.m. Wakefield beat Needham 67-57 on Monday night, improving to 2-2. (Dan Pawlowski File Photo)
WAKEFIELD — Two weeks after becoming just the third Wakefield High basketball player to score 40 points in a game, junior captain Jack Millward did it again on Monday night at the Charbonneau Field House, scoring 40 points while leading the Warriors to a 67-57 victory over Needham.
Millward, who also added 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, had 18 in the 4th quarter to hold off a Rocket run as the Warriors improved to 2-2 on the season.
Perhaps even more impressive in this basketball age of 3-point contests was Millward hitting the 40 mark with only one triple. He did almost half of his damage from the free throw line where he went 16-for-21, including 11-for-12 in the 4th as he iced it from the stripe with Needham pushing for a late comeback.
The visitors led 14-13 after a back-and-forth 1st quarter. Millward turned around a slow shooting start by finishing strong with 11 in the frame, the highlight being a dunk in transition that got the hometown crowd into it. He followed soon after with a jab step, jump stop followed by an and-one for 3 more the hard way which is also how he started the 2nd quarter off after an and-one following an offensive rebound.
Senior Kevin DeGray got it going in the 2nd as he scored all 9 of his points in the frame. He had an and-one of his own to reclaim the lead for good at 19-17 and followed up by forcing a turnover and hitting a contested corner 3 to make it 25-17. Junior Dylan McDermott (5 pts, 3 reb, 7 ast) who paced the Warriors in assists, had one of his many impressive drive and kicks out to DeGray at the top of the key for another 3-pointer, this time increasing the lead to 30-22. All the while, Wakefield got gritty defensive performances from multiple leaders, including senior bigs captain Matthew Beaver (3 pts, 7 reb), captain Jackson Fitzpatrick (3 pts, 6 reb) and Sean O’Rourke (5 pts, 4 reb).
After dropping a close 1st quarter, Wakefield went on to win the next three as they continued to finish strong in the second half.
The 3rd quarter was relatively even, but the Warriors made sure to limit chances, rebounding well and mixing up their defense to give the Rockets a few different zone looks.
Fitzpatrick started the 3rd with an and-one, the 6th and final one of the night for Wakefield who proved their physicality by finishing through any sort of contact.
Millward had plenty of buckets at the hoop in the 3rd and McDermott’s corner 3 pushed the lead to 10 late in the frame with Wakefield eventually taking a 42-34 advantage into the 4th.
With 22 points after three, 40 seemed light-years away for Millward but his two free throws to start the 4th were a sign of things to come.
Beaver followed up a second chance bucket early in the final quarter with a block and Millward later found O’Rourke underneath with a bounce pass to make it 48-36.
Millward’s only 3-pointer of the night gave the Warriors a 13-point lead with 2:40 to play and he finished strong from the line to make Wakefield’s 2nd win official.
The Warriors travel to Stoneham tonight at 6 p.m. to take on an upstart Spartan squad that is off to an impressive 5-0 start this season. Stoneham went 3-17 last year including two losses to Wakefield. The Spartans haven’t defeated the Warriors since 2018.
